Mittwoch, 3. September 2014

My Problems with How the Media Handles Sexism and Rape

Lately I was reading through some articles regarding sexism and rape, and there were quite a few things that annoyed me up to a point where I had to struggle to take those texts seriously, because they often took a detour around certain parts of reality.

It was talked about the issue of female behavior often being misconstrued as "asking for it".

For instance, when a woman is walking down the street in a short skirt, maybe showing some cleavage, some might say that she's "asking for" being whistled at, she's "asking for" rude comments, she's "asking for" getting raped, like a homeless guy is asking for money simply by putting a cup in front of him. Let's leave aside the fact that's utter macho crap.

What bugged me the most about those articles was the fact that the precautions women take, in order to protect themselves from getting insulted, harassed or even assaulted in any way, where discarded as a bad manner that people grew accustomed to, like they shouldn't be taken at all. The writers didn't actually discourage people to do it, yet it was clear that they also don't want to willingly encourage anyone, simply because they think it's not necessary.

BULLSHIT!

YES, it shouldn't be necessary for women, or any other human being for that matter, to take extra care. But why shouldn't they? Why is it considered a flaw in perception when somebody says that people should protect themselves?

Society is far from being that safe to move around carelessly. And it's never going to get safe if we already start to tell people to get raped practically on purpose, because they think they shouldn't do anything that could help with preventing it. You've got to have an open mind to the thought that there's evil out there that doesn't give a single fuck about how it should be. ... Well, that's not entirely true. They'd be more than happy to give a fuck if you let them, and that fuck could be you.

Don't believe me? Then read the typical hateful, threatening, straight up disgusting comments and messages a feminist gets during an ordinary day.

I mean, who in their right mind would actually tell somebody, "It's ok, you don't need to worry. Nothing's gonna happen. And even if, knowing that those people are assholes, and that it's wrong what they do, is enough to get along just fine."?!?!?!

Is that how such an issue should be dealt with?

Do those people really think that they can defend themselves without actually having to defend themselves? Society is not going to change over night, and a hand full of wannabe Ghandis definitely won't be the solution to that. You can't starve your way out of rape culture. If you think differently, then you're not passively resisting, you're being actively ignorant.

Again, I'm not saying that all women should wrap themselves up, arm themselves, take self defense courses, lock themselves in, do everything they possibly can to decrease the risk of getting harassed. Also I definitely won't put the blame on the victim after "shit happened", let alone say that it "asked for it" if it decided beforehand to not protect itself. What I say is that it's wrong to tell them that it's absolutely unnecessary to take any precautions. We don't feel bad about locking the door when we leave the house, even though we probably wouldn't have to. Thing is, you never know, and nobody would tell you not to do it. Of course being cautious won't eliminate the basic problem that causes it. But, until society has found a solution and is executing it effectively, why advise anyone to let the guard down intentionally?

Secondly, pretty much every single article is pointing out men as the one and only perpetrators, and women as the one and only victims.

Recently, more and more studies keep showing up claiming that nearly 40% of rape victims are male, with an almost equally high percentage of abusers being female. Let that sink in for a moment.

Now, where's the big-time media coverage regarding such figures?

It's comparativley non-existant. And why is that so?

*Listening to the echo of the question as it drifts through myriads of so-called journalists as they've fallen silent, looking down on their feet, ashamed as they should be*

Yet some of them are everything but lazy. They only decided to concentrate their energies on a wholly different matter, namely ...

It's like nothing can be considered at least somewhat normal anymore. It's ridiculous. Everything must have been considered and thought through three times over before presenting it to the public, in order prevent some militant feminist to get a "hard on" and starting an #outcry. And even then, it most certainly won't work. Hard-assed, close-minded hypocrites are everywhere, looking through the most powerful magnifying glass you can imagine, completely oblivious to the fact that they're actually burning down what they're looking at, because they fail to see the bigger picture. All under the waving flag of what is their understanding of feminism, with their true goal not being equality, but matriarchy. Small wonder that so many other people get pissed at them, isn't it?

I'm already fed up with that shit. I can't hear/read it anymore. As said, I'm not talking about serious discussions and arguments, but the steaming load of overly criticising, knitpicking crap which is the equivalent of calling someone a racist because he/she likes to put milk into his/her coffee. Fact is, there isn't anything that no one can read sexism into and/or get offended by. There's nothing wrong with raising awareness. But instead of drawing a line, pointing it out to those people when they're taking it way too far, tell them to just SHUT THE FUCK UP and relax, the media often enough keeps sucking up to them and bows to their will. There seems to be no middle ground.

And why?

Because all media is apparently supposed to be some gender-free, politically correct, sterile bastard, as if flawless objectivity would actually exist ... and because it's bad publicity to piss off a small, but loud bunch of obviously deranged people who are, albeit to be taken less seriously, no better than their counterparts which are posing death threats against feminists.